Ideas For A New Labour Code Met With Criticism

The Codification Committee, a government body entrusted with the task of preparing a first draft of an entirely new Labour Code, the regulation which affects all employers and employees in Poland, finished its work this week. Even though the project is the first step to introducing a whole new labour code, the Committee did not disclose the results of their year-long work. The public has to wait for state officials to share their ideas a little longer, and it is not clear how long.

However, even though the whole report has not been made public yet, the media received numerous leaks, rumors, and glances into the new regulation. Polish journalists learned the general concepts and some of the ideas that the lawmakers worked on. The reaction to this information is far from ecstatic.

The Codification Committee projects a complete overhaul of the present system of employment contracts. It appears the government wants employers to move away from civil law agreements between company owners and their employees. The agreement for the performance of a specific task (umowa o dzieło) and mandate agreement (umowa zlecenie) are to be done away with completely. Emphasis will be put on employment agreements for non-fixed terms. This means labour code regulations in Poland will become less flexible.

Some of the other proposals for Labour Code may include:

• Limiting the possibility of moonlighting,
• A new type of employment contract: seasonal employment agreement,
• Increasing the maximum length of trial period employment to six months,
• Limiting the maximum period of a fixed-term agreement to 18 months,
• Obligation to justify termination of employment agreement for non-fixed term.

The project of the new Labour Code, which is very likely to change during the legislative process, has been moved to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.